Oh Crap/Professional Wrestling

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


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  • When WWE's Kane is on a babyface run, one thing that smaller (and that'd be most folks) Heels do is to back up, whether retreating from another face or just admiring what they did. And then they bump into an angry guy who's described as 300 pounds of pure psychopath. Cue Oh Crap look.
  • Another fun spot. Big angry wrestler is doing something with his back turned. Another guy grabs an Improvised Weapon and whacks the big guy. The big guy stops, turns, and just looks at the other.
  • Another good one: Guy is in ring and doesn't know his opponent. Cue intro to the biggest, meanest guy (or girl) on the roster.
  • Heel manager Paul Heyman has just delivered a bigoted speech to Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio, Jr., the two resident luchadores on the WWE circuit and outlined his "vision" for Smackdown before walking away looking quite pleased with himself, thinking he's got it made. Unfortunately for Heyman, he just had to close that little speech with "...and there's not a man alive who's gonna stand in my way!" As Heyman is walking away, the toll of a church bell is heard loud and clear and the crowd goes wild. Heyman has a disbelieving look on his face, as if to say, "No way. It can't be him." Then the second gong sounds and the arena goes dark, and Heyman goes into Oh Crap mode as The Undertaker, known as the Deadman by many fans, makes his entrance, ready to kick Heyman's ass.
    • In fact, The Undertaker's appearance in general is enough to create an "Oh Crap" moment. A favorite among fans is when Undertaker is knocked down, and is lying motionless on the mat. His opponent will start taunting him, before Undertaker will either sit up, or reach up and grab his opponent by the throat. Either way, the opponent's face tells the story.
      • Kane, as The Undertaker's Kayfabe half-brother, is treated as having (to varying degrees) the same "supernatural powers", and thus uses the same style of no-selling. The opponent's reaction tends to be the same.
        • Notably, The Undertaker is just about the only person who can get this kind of reaction out of Kane, barring a few moments that most count as never happening.
        • Like this?
        • Kane himself got this look after pushing Paul Bearer off a ladder, thinking it was just a mannequin up there.
  • The audio cue of some wrestlers' entrance music will prompt the "Oh Crap" reaction from an unsuspecting opponent in the ring:
  • A world champion will gets whenever a Money In The Bank winner decides to cash it in at their expense.
    • One of the best examples is probably The Miz cashing in on a beaten Randy Orton, if only because his facial expression didn't change at all, but his body language pretty much screamed "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
    • Averted by CM Punk at Money in the Bank 2011 when Alberto Del Rio attempted to cash in his shot after Punk's title win over John Cena, only to be knocked out by a kick to the head before the bell could ring, allowing Punk to escape with his title.
  • An occasional instance involving two separate Oh Crap moments happens when there is a tag-team match pitting a team of one face and one heel against a team of two heels. The first Oh Crap reaction is from the face wrestler when he realizes that his heel teammate has just walked out mid-match, leaving him at the mercy of his heel opponents. After a couple minutes of the heels beating down the face, the second Oh Crap reaction happens from the heels when the entrance music of a stronger face hits, indicating an ensuing Big Damn Heroes entrance by the stronger face to rescue the beatdown victim.
  • Another common example is when a heel authority figure is in the ring ranting about something. After being interrupted by a face wrestler, he will threaten to immediately fire the next person that interrupts him. The Oh Crap reaction comes from the heel authority figure when the next person who interrupts him is a face authority figure who outranks him.
  • A TNA example. Jeff Hardy and Fortune are about to beat down on Mr. Anderson when AJ Styles suddenly stops and does Anderson's signature taunt, Fortune following along before taking out all of Hardy's allies. Jeff Hardy's face turns to dumbstruck shock.
    • Jeff Jarrett challenged Amazing Red's younger brother to a MMA fight, thinking he'd be smaller than the already small Red. He turns his back to 'give him a free shot'. Red's brother won't have it and taps him on the shoulder. Jarrett's smug face suddenly turns into an Oh Crap when he realizes Red's brother is taller than he is and absolutely RIPPED!
  • The expression on Ric Flair's face here
  • The lead-in to WWE's Royal Rumble. Triple H had been brutalizing and antagonizing Mankind for several weeks, and a few days before, had beaten him bloody. Cue Mankind coming out to inform Triple H that he is not ready to face him in a Street Fight at the event. However...

Mick Foley: "But I think the fans deserve a substitute in that match. I think ya know the guy..." (removes mask, rips off shirt to reveal a different one) "I think you know him pretty damn well! His name... is CACTUS JACK!"

Triple H: (Pulls a classic Oh Crap face)

  • On the April 11 edition of Raw, Michael Cole gets a rather perfect one after Jerry Lawler defeated Jack Swagger, meaning he has no choice but to face Jerry at Extreme Rules in a match of the King's choosing. This became pretty much his default expression the rest of the night.
    • And not just that, either. Turns out it's a tag team match, and his partner is Jack Swagger. Normally this would be okay, but this was mere moments after he slapped Jack in the face and blamed him for the loss.
    • And again when he realized that Jack won't be in his corner vs The King at Over The Limit.
      • It started a little bit earlier when he realized he'd fallen hook, line, and sinker for Lawler's Batman Gambit, pretty much making Swagger so outright furious with Cole, Swagger says "He's all yours" to Jerry and walks out on Cole.
  • Pretty much the reaction of the entire Diva's locker room to Kharma.
  • On the May 14th edition of Impact!, Immortal has a perfect example of an Oh Crap when they find out that Mick Foley is the Network Executive that's been screwing up their plans for the past few weeks.
  • Bully Ray has this reaction when Mr. Anderson returns on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge after being put in the hospital by himself and Gunner. It isn't the fact he's back that scares him though. It's the fact Anderson, one of the largest hams in pro wrestling, is in Tranquil Fury as he just brutally beat the other guy who put him out to a bloody pulp with a metal chain right in front of Ray and Bully Ray realizes he's probably next.
  • The Undertaker had a very real-life moment of Oh Crap when, during a Hell In A Cell match, Mankind fell through the roof of the cage. The Undertaker thought that he'd seriously injured his fellow wrestler.
  • An almost-legendary Oh Crap moment came during the 1997 Royal Rumble, as Stone Cold Steve Austin ran roughshod over his competition and was left all alone in the ring. The countdown for the next Rumble entrant finishes, and a familiar guitar screech causes Austin to freeze cold in his tracks.
  • During the Smackdown Elimination Chamber 2012 match, Daniel Bryan had yet to leave the pod and The Big Show decided the best course of action to get his hands on him was to break into the pod from above! Bryan's facial expression went from smug to pure terror. And there was a minute or so before the pod would open.
  • The Trope Image provider for this is Booker T and his match with Rikishi, who's known for his "Stinkface" where, upon downing an opponent in the corner, he would smother their face with his enormous posterior. The look on Booker's face is utterly priceless. As a matter of fact, a lot of superstars got this feeling when they knew what was about to hit them... in the face.
  • On the April 28, 2014 episode of RAW, John Cena pretty much had this reaction along with a Stunned Silence as he hears a children's choir thanks to the Wyatt Family. He wasn't the only one with this reaction.
  • During the 2015 Elimination Chamber match, Bad News Barrett tosses Dolph Ziggler into one the pod that has yet to be open, only for that pod to break open. Since there wasn't a rule against it, the referee had no choice but let the wrestler enter early. Just like the rest of the crowd, the referee was just as surprise. To top it off, the pod Barrett and Ziggler broke contain not other than Mark Henry, even JBL calls Barrett out on it.
  • Heath Slater had this reaction during the 4th of July food when he tossed food at The Big Show and Kane... of all people.
  • Speaking of Kane, if anyone is in the ring and has him for opponent, cue this moment.
  • During a Gauntlet Match, The Miz had the reaction when he remembers that he's the second to last to show up and Braun Strowman was next.
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